Charlie Daniels exemplifies misinformed conservatives

by atom bash

The Charlie Daniels Band posted an open letter to Congress to their Facebook page earlier this week. That letter has since gone viral with 17,256 likes and 15,606 shares at the time this was published. The letter is a plea to Congress to reject the nuclear deal with Iran based on the usual fear of terrorism.

In the letter Daniels promotes all of our war time achievements, as if more war is something we should strive for. He seems to think that you only negotiate out of fear, rather than just having the desire to stop needless slaughter. Normal rhetoric for the neo-cons, but he did state something rather important to their point of view.

Something based entirely on misinformation.

Be honest with yourselves a minute, go into the bathroom and look in the mirror and ask the person you see this question.“Do I really believe that Iran will not use the money we’re releasing to them to finance terrorists to kill Americans, and, when, not if, but when, the Iranians develop their nuclear device, will they really use it against America and Israel?”

Conservatives really think Iran is the big bad that we have to worry about. A lot of them seem to be itching for a war.

Where do they get the information to form these opinions? Fox News, a fairly imbalanced cable news station owned by an Australian business mogul named Rupert Murdoch. Now, everybody knows that huge corporations are never owned by just one person these days. So, who do you think owns the second highest stakes in Fox News?

Saudi Arabian Prince Alwaleed bin Talal. The Saudi prince recently sold all but 1% of his holdings in News Corp., but Fox News falls under 21st Century Fox, which he still hols a 6.6% interest in, second only behind Murdoch.

Historically, there has always been tension between Saudi Arabia and Iran, mainly due to ethnic differences. Saudi Arabia is 90% Sunni Muslims and 10% Shia Muslims while Iran is 90% Shia and 8% Sunni.

Perhaps the Saudi owned media isn’t telling the whole story.

A piece by The Guardian’s Owen Jones admonishes Qatar and Kuwait for funding terrorist groups before moving on to Saudi Arabia where he starts comparing their government to the Islamic State. Saudi Arabia has beheaded over 2,000 people since 1985. Just this year they executed 90 in this barbaric manner, and that number is from June. It’s probably over 100 by now.

But let’s be honest, good ol’ patriotic Americans couldn’t care less what Arab countries do to their own. It’s the terrorists trying to destroy our freedom that scares them.

Saudi Arabia is Sunni, the Islamic State (ISIL) is Sunni. According to Iraq’s Vice-President Nuri al-Maliki, Saudi Arabia is still supplying ISIL with weapons and funds.

“The ISIL was a movement created by certain regional states, headed by Saudi Arabia, with sectarian and political goals,” Maliki said in the Northeastern city of Mashhad recently.

According to former MI6 agent Alastair Crooke, the foundation of ISIL has its roots in Saudi Arabia. Some of those in Saudi Arabia’s elite resonate with ISIL’s tactics.

“It is not hard to understand how the founding of the Islamic State by ISIS in contemporary Iraq might resonate amongst those who recall [Saudi Arabia’s] history.”

Former Florida Sen. Bob Graham, lead author of the 9/11 report, has been unrelenting in his condemnation of Saudi Arabia’s role in terrorism.

“Saudi Arabia has not stopped its interest in spreading extreme Wahhabism. ISIS…is a product of Saudi ideals, Saudi money and Saudi organizational support, although now they are making a pretense of being very anti-ISIS.”

Former CIA director James Woolsey described the Saudi-sponsored Wahhabism and Islamist extremism as:

“the soil in which Al-Qaeda and its sister terrorist organizations are flourishing.”

So, why does the U.S. support Saudi Arabia? Why does the media betray us, lying through omission so that we are unable to make an informed decision.